Whicker: Gibson takes loss, blame, but series isn't done

LOS ANGELES – As a goalie, you want to go where nobody chants your name.

John Gibson walked into the giant Cheers bar where the Kings play hockey Wednesday night, the same joint he silenced like a black-clad cowboy last Saturday.

His name had haunted Kings fans and irritated Kings players, with Justin Williams warning everyone not to “anoint” him just yet.

In Game 6, he got baptized.

The first Kings goal could not be laid at Gibson’s feet, as Jake Muzzin sneaked in behind a Ducks’ defense that was fixed upon Anze Kopitar.

Muzzin got Kopitar’s pass and fired from close range, and the Kings had the coveted First Goal.

“The second goal was more important,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. It was also the one that had the Staples Center crowd roaring “Gib-son.”

Trevor Lewis, who had scored L.A.’s first goal on Gibson in Game 5, broke free after an impressive cycling session by Anaheim.

Lewis shot from the left wing and Gibson appeared to stop it, but then it trickled through and gave the Kings a 2-0 lead.

Kyle Palmieri retaliated with a wraparound goal only 98 seconds later, and it was still the second period, and the Ducks had finally seemed to have stabilized things after a roaring, charging, hard-hitting start by the home team.

But Jonathan Quick would let the Ducks get no closer, and Kopitar kept sprawling to knock pucks out of the defensive zone, and the Kings were far more precise and decisive when getting the puck out of trouble.

It became a 2-1 victory that sends this series to its only logical destination, a Game 7 in Anaheim on Friday.

And Gibson? He was impeccable the rest of the night, including post-game.

“I made a mistake, it went in and we lost, 2-1,” he said.

Asked if anyone had screened him on the play, he replied, “I should have had it, and that was the game.”

Asked how he was able to respond, he replied, “It was just one shot. It happens.”

Jeff Potter was discussing this phenomenon on Wednesday. Potter was Gibson’s U-16 coach in Pittsburgh.

“There really wasn’t much I could teach him,” Potter said. “But the most impressive thing was the way he handled adversity. Most kids that age give up a bad goal and then give up three more. He got better in that situation.

“I shouldn’t say this, but I didn’t mind it when it happened. I always knew what was coming.”

Gibson hasn’t gotten where he is by giving up consecutive softies. The issue is whether the Ducks can remember how to beat Quick, or whether he’s forgotten, again, how to lose.

“What he (Quick) did tonight, that’s the reason he was our (Team USA) Olympic goaltender and why he has a Stanley Cup, a Conn Smythe, you name it,” Cam Fowler said. “I had a grade-A scoring chance on one of the last power plays and he made an unbelievable save.

“On my opportunity, I felt like there was no way he saw thet puck. I thought I put it where I wanted to and he made the save. But I thought our power play was a little out of sync early, and I felt like I rushed some things out there, too.”

But, really, it was the first time in this series when the Kings played with both verve and command. The passes weren’t getting tangled in skates. There were no puck donations in the defensive zone. And the Kings weren’t leaving dangerous places until five men had done their defensive work.

The fact that it came together in Game 6 shouldn’t be a revelation. This is how they operate.

They’re the guy sprinting down the corridor to get on the plane before the door closes. They’re speeding to the mailbox at 11 p.m. on April 15. They’re better late than never. Actually, they’re better late than most teams. Game 7 is as late as it gets.

The team that scores first in this series is now 6-0. It is a law of nature that holds up even when the other team ties it, 1-1. It was a law that was broken time after time in the first round of these playoffs, by everyone, but now both teams believe it.

“Scoring first changes the game,” Palmieri said. “It’s nice when you get it at home and get everybody in the building excited, and the momentum just flows through the game.”

Palmieri was asked if this loss would have a lingering effect.

“It stopped lingering about five minutes ago,” he said.

Baptismal water, off a Duck’s back. They talk about the way pucks seem to stick to John Gibson, but they also notice that little else does.